January 20, 2006

Here is a good column by Jim Evans over at Ethics Daily about what would happen if the wall between church and state came down. Here are a couple highlights:

"If the wall comes down we will witness a deepening confusion of the proper role of faith in our culture. This has already happened to a significant degree as elements of the Christian faith have been highly politicized."

"In fact, faith is already so identified with certain political ideals that the very face of orthodoxy has changed. It’s not enough simply to believe in Jesus anymore, now we must also hold the proper view on taxes, abortion, and homosexuality in order to be a real Christian."

"Even more critical, if the court takes the wall down, there will no longer be a legal hedge to stop incursions by the state into religious practice. Without the wall there will also be no legal way to stop dominant religious groups from using public property, property that belongs to all citizens, for religious purposes."

"But the lessons of history remind us that in the past when the state has acted as an agent of God, the blood of innocents has flowed in the streets. And every time the church has acted as the state, the soul of faith has withered."

Amen! It is time for Christians to once again stand in the gap and rebuild the wall.